Green living aligns your lifestyle with natural resources in a way that reduces the negative impact and improves the health of the planet. The environmental benefits alone should be enough encouragement to adopt green practices in your everyday life. The principles of green living promote sustainability and nature conservation that will ensure our planet remains habitable for future generations.
On an individual level, green living can help you distance yourself from the allure of material possessions and focus on things that actually improve the quality of life. If you’re new green living, here are some easy ways you can implement it in your everyday life.
- Ditch Single-Use Plastic
It’s high time to completely eliminate single-use plastic from your life. Stop using plastic bags for groceries, disposable coffee cups, plastic water bottles, straws, and so on. Instead, take a carry a reusable water bottle and cloth grocery bags. This is one of the easiest practices to start your sustainability journey.
- Switch to Green Energy
Conventionally, electricity is generated by burning fossil fuels, which releases greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. It would be best to switch to green energy plans to reduce your carbon footprint. If your current energy provider doesn’t offer renewable energy plans, then compare electricity prices of various green plans on the market and switch to an affordable one.
- Take Public Transportation
From the daily commute to work to running errands, start making the most of public transportation. This will not only help reduce pollution but also save fuel costs. If your city isn’t well-connected with public transportation, you can also start carpooling with your co-workers.
- Reduce Consumption
From clothes to home decor, try to reduce your consumption is any way you can. The less you demand these things, the lower will be the need for resources to manufacture such items. And if you have to buy, then start purchasing from sustainable and green retailers.
- Eat Vegan
Eating vegetarian or vegan meals isn’t just a health fad propagated by social media stars. It actually has a great impact on the environment. Harvesting, raising, packaging, and transporting animal products consumes a lot of resources than plant-based food. Therefore, try to incorporate at least a few vegan meals into your diet.
- Lower Energy & Water Use
Stop being careless with electricity and start turning off electronics when not in use. Also, replace wasteful CFLs and incandescent lights with energy-efficient LED lights.
Try to take shorter showers and get leaking pipes and taps fixed to prevent water wastage.
- Buy Second-Hand
Before buying anything new, take a look at second-hand and refurbished options. Thanks to the internet, you can easily access second-hand goods. Whether you’re looking for a new dress or a new laptop, make sure you check out your pre-owned options first. And of course, second-hand goods are much cheaper.
- Eliminate Paper Bills
In this digital era, there is no place for paper bills and snail-mail. It will take you just a couple of minutes to switch from paper bills to e-bills. So, go ahead, do it!
- Recycle Responsibly
It’s not just important to recycle, it’s even more important to do it right. For instance, if your containers are covered in food, they cannot be recycled. Make sure you know what can and cannot be recycled to ensure your efforts aren’t going to waste.
- Keep Learning
There are countless ways you can make your life more sustainable. Take guidance from various green living blogs and Instagram accounts to learn new ways to lower your impact on the environment. Keep learning, educating, and advocating for sustainability.
A completely sustainable and zero-waste lifestyle cannot be achieved overnight, so don’t put that kind of pressure on yourself. Just start in any way you can and take it from there.